When you purchase a product, you are trusting that it will work as intended. You certainly never expect that you will be injured by what you have bought. Any company that makes or sells you a product owes you a legal duty to furnish something that is reasonably safe and free from defects.
If you have been injured by a defective product in South Carolina, you may be entitled to financial compensation. The Camden product liability lawyers at Savage, Royall & Sheheen, LLP, can represent you in these challenging cases, working to deliver you results.
Types of Defective Products
Product liability lawsuits can touch on practically anything that you use in your daily life from food to medications to heavy machinery. Here are some examples of product liability lawsuits:
- Customers suffered severe injuries because the way that certain SUVs were designed made them more susceptible to rollover
- Factory workers may be injured when they are cut by defective machinery that lacks proper safety guards
- Hundreds of thousands of people have suffered injuries when hernia mesh has disintegrated or migrated out of place in the body
- Women have sued Johnson & Johnson, claiming that they developed ovarian cancer after using talc powder daily because it was tainted with asbestos
- Scores of customers were sickened by E. coli when eating at Chipotle
Product liability law is very expansive in who you can sue for your injuries. The legal term for who you can sue is anyone who was in the “stream of commerce.”
Defendants can include anyone who causes the product to enter the stream of commerce or causes it to be passed along to you. These can include:
- The manufacturer
- Wholesalers
- Distributors
- Retailers
By way of example, let’s say that you were injured by a defective ladder that you bought at a home improvement store. You can sue the company that made the ladder and the store itself.
You are entitled to be paid for your damages.
An attorney would investigate to learn of every possible defendant and should be as expansive as possible in determining who to sue.
How to Win a Product Liability Lawsuit
Your attorney would take every legal route possible to try to help you win your product liability lawsuit. The most important action they will take is to try to show that the product was defective.
If you can demonstrate that the product was defective in one of the following ways, the defendant would be strictly liable for your damages:
- Design defects: A product is defectively designed if the benefits of the product’s design do not outweigh its risks or if the product is more dangerous than an ordinary consumer would expect
- Manufacturing defects: There may be nothing wrong with the design, but something went wrong in the manufacturing process that made the product unreasonably dangerous.
- Marketing defects: There is a warning defect when the seller fails to provide adequate warnings of possible dangers associated with the product or instructions regarding its safe use.
Strict liability means that you have shifted the burden of proof onto the defendant to show why they should not be liable for your damages. The defendant may argue that you misused the product or otherwise assumed the risk. If the defendant cannot show a reason why they should not pay, they would be held responsible.
You may also use other common law and statutory arguments to show why you deserve money.
Your product liability lawsuit will always allege that the defendant was negligent in making or selling the product. In addition, you would also argue that the defendant breached one or more specific state statutes.
Product Liability Lawsuits Usually Involve Expert Witnesses
Product liability lawsuits are heavily dependent on science. You need to show exactly what was wrong with the product to qualify for compensation. You do that with testimony that analyzes the product and shows what went wrong or what could have been done better.
The primary method that your lawyer will use is working with expert witnesses. They will offer their opinion on what they see, based on their own experience. In many lawsuits, the case will come down to a battle of yours and the defendant’s experts. The defendant is going to work hard to have the court disqualify your expert, so your attorney must choose who they will work with wisely.
Your attorney will also make heavy use of evidence that they can obtain from the defendant through the discovery process. There have been numerous examples of cases where plaintiffs have won cases on the strength of incriminating emails that showed the defendant knew that a product was defective. For example, Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay punitive damages in numerous lawsuits because plaintiffs have obtained evidence that showed the company knew the product was dangerous.
How Long to File a Product Liability Lawsuit in South Carolina
Product liability lawsuits are brought according to state law (even when they are filed in federal court). Every state has a statute of limitations that controls the amount of time that you have to file a lawsuit.
In South Carolina, the statute of limitations is three years from the date of injury or death. The challenge is that you may not have known right off the bat that you were hurt. It may take years for you to discover your injuries. The statute of limitations begins to run from the time that you notice you were injured.
How a Product Liability Attorney Can Help You
An experienced personal injury attorney is a must in any product liability case. We can do the following in your case:
- Investigate what happened and learn who are possible defendants in your case are.
- Work with expert witnesses to understand and argue how the product was defective.
- Estimate the value of your case, so you know how much to seek.
- File a lawsuit and fight for you throughout the litigation process.
- Negotiate a settlement in your case or take the case to trial.
Contact a South Carolina Product Liability Attorney
Product liability lawsuits are often major legal fights against powerful corporations. They have their high-priced lawyers, but when you hire Savage, Royall & Sheheen, LLP, you can fight back. You can discuss your case with an attorney when you call us at 803-432-4391 or message us online to schedule a free initial consultation. We will never ask you to pay us any money upfront, nor will we ever send you a bill for our services at any time.